Remember how as a child playing a game in which your opponent changed the rules after it started so they would win? Or were you the one changing the rules?

Have you noticed how much better the Dow Jones average has looked lately? It reached a low of around 6500 March 9, of this year. Now it is over 8700 and climbing. The Dow is based on the performance of only 30 companies. The markets precipitous drop from around 1400 in November 2007 was influenced by the stock of two of those, Citigroup and GM, plummeting and dragging down the average.

The monetary mood of much of America is closely tied to the performance of the Dow. The general mood goes up and down with the Dow even among those who never check it. Enough people do and their mood is mirrored in the daily news and their purchasing interest. This is enough to influence others.

To boost the sagging Dow, the depressed Citigroup and GM were taken out and two prospering companies replaced them, Travelers and Cisco. The market changed little, but its appearance did. They changed the rules in the middle of the game to make it look as though we are winning bigger than we are. This has been a boost to the mood of the market and much of America.

In reality, we are not doing as good as it appears. The rules change made a difference.

In this time of financial decline government income is down as well as that of businesses and individuals. The government has a way to counter this and boost its income. Increased taxes on companies and individuals give government more income.

To do this government is looking for new taxes to impose. Two under consideration are novel.

One is to tax overweight people. The assumption is they are consuming more than others and should pay for the extra consumption and health costs. Lose weight to reduce your taxes.

A second you-got-to-be-kidding tax being considered is on animal flatulence. Supposedly the gas passed by animals is damaging the ozone and deserves to have a green tax imposed. How many cows do you think will care? I am not going any further with that. Your imagination has already gone too far.

In Ireland we heard of a tax I hope certain government officials don't learn of. I always thought those narrow slit windows in castles were for defense in time of battle. Doubtless they were an advantage in that regard, but they were motivated by a sunlight tax. A tax was imposed on the basis of the amount of sunlight admitted into a house. There go our large picture windows.

The rule's changes in the Dow and the tax code make it harder for the average American to win. It is still the greatest county on earth and there are still persons of integrity in government and the financial market working for the good of the public.

One of their biggest challenges is a large segment of the public demanding entitlements. The number of recipients is growing faster than the number of providers. A change of the rules, actually a reversion, would be to declare everyone has only three entitlements. They are the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

One of my Cajun friends said he is chasing the fool out of happiness because his liberty is enabling him to enjoy life.

The Rev. Dr. Nelson Price is pastor emeritus of Roswell Street Baptist Church. Contact Price at nlprice@aol.com.